Frame Jewelry Display

I am not the type of girl to wear a lot of jewelry or accessories. I'm sure that makes me weird for a girl but oh well. You'll usually find me in just my wedding ring and a simple necklace when it comes to accessories. Nothing frilly or chunky or large for me. But don't get me wrong, i love the frilly/chunky/large stuff that everyone is wearing. I just don't know how to wear it myself. I'm terrible with accessories. Trust me, i wish i could be good at it because i really do love it. And oh how i wish i could wear headbands, but i'm pretty sure i have the biggest sized head you can get for a girl and the headband just digs in behind my ears causing major headache...but headbands aren't jewelry, which is what we're talking about today. So anyway, as far as earrings go....i almost never wear them. I have a bunch, but my ears are just too sensitive to metals most of the time that i hardly ever try to wear them. But when i stumbled onto this Earring Display over at Kevinandamanda.com, i fell in love.

That's adorable right? I couldn't pass up this idea, so i went and made it myself :]

It was SO easy to make too. PLUS i already had everything i needed, i didn't spend a single dollar. But even then, if you don't have some of the supplies, it's still a very inexpensive project. I had a bunch of frames i didn't know what to do with from decorations for our wedding, but i got all of the frames in the first place from DI and Goodwill for a $1 each, some of them for less. So like i said, very cheap.

What you'll need:

Picture Frames

Picture Hanging Wire

Craft Paint

(i used Vintage White & Calypso Sky, but your colors are up to you)

Paint Brushes

(the foam ones worked great to give the paint the streaks so it wasn't so polished with the white)

Thumb Tacks

Ribbon

Staple Gun & Staples

I started out, for this frame, painting it first entirely with the Calypso Sky and letting it dry. It doesn't take more then a few minutes. I wanted this to be the color to show through when i painted the white over it with the 2nd coat.

When i painted the white over the 1st color, i just brushed it over, i didn't try to get the white into the detail and corners. That's the look i was going for, the shabby chic look, and i got what i wanted :]

Next was the hanging wire. I used 2 pieces of hanging wire and twisted them together so post earrings can be hung from the display as well.

So, you can slide the post earrings in between the wires and put the backs on, or hang the hooks over the double wires.

When stapling the wires to the back of the frame, you have a choice. You can staple the wire directly to the back of the frame. But if you do this, i realized after the fact, the wire will be directly against the wall if you decide to hang the display.

So the other option is to staple the wires to the side of the inside of the frame where the glass and backing slides into.

I spaced the hanging wire about 3/4 of an inch from the top of the inside of the frame, and 3 inches apart for each additional wire below that. It depends on the size of the frame you use for how you space it though.

This is what the ribbon and thumb tacks were used for. Because the backs are taken out of the frames, there is nothing to use if it's going to be hung up on the wall. So this is what i came up with.

Amanda, the one to inspire this whole project, was inspired in the first place by Ruffles And Stuff with this:

She had used an old frame with the original hanging wire to string up her necklaces.
I didn't want to have to unclasp my necklaces to get it off the wire, so i decided the hooks were the way to go. I realize a necklace has to be unclasped to put it on your neck....but i just thought it was easier to slip a necklace over the hook when it comes to taking it on and off the frame.

The only thing you need extra for this is the Hooks instead of the hanging wire. You can find them in the hardware aisle. I used 7, and equally spaced them across the top on the inside of the frame.
If that isn't enough hooks for you though, you can use 2 hooks on either end of the frame and slip a dowel inside the hooks to hang the necklaces from and -- i would think -- that would be easily removed to take a necklace off the dowel. Or you can just use the picture hanging wire if you like that idea :]

So there you go. A simple, inexpensive DIY project you can do to display your jewelry.
I actually didn't keep this project for myself.... Husband thought i was silly to spend so much time for something that wasn't for me, but when i told him i was sending it to his sister, he said i was really sweet :]

My sister-in-law Leah makes earrings, which she has given me several pairs of, and has lots of pretty jewelry, so i figured she would put these to better use then i would.
So Leah, these Frame Jewelry Displays are all for you.

I hope you like them!